We left in good time form our air BnB hoping for lighter traffic as we cycled thru central Bordeaux CBD and over one of the impressive bridges . Soon enough we were back in the country cycling an amazing rail trail . The country is blessed with old rail networks that have been converted to cycle ways.

Moved thru amazing sunflower fields and large area of Bordeaux vineyards . The countryside is largely unfenced which adds to its charm compared to any trip in nz .

Great selections of cold meats here in France at reasonable prices and wonderful cheeses made lunch easy for me . Our special fromage box sits in the cool bag often with ice .

The final kms of the ride to La Reole were testy with a number of pretty tough short sharp hills that made us very relieved to finally arrive at this ancient old town with a lovely campsite on he river .

Leaving La Reole we embarked on a long stretch of canal .beautiful scenery and an endless procession of 200 + year old London Plane trees . This canal must have been a huge infrastructure project of its time with massive man muscle expended in its creation .

Had our first serious mechanical issue this day wth a rear flat tyre and and obvious hole in the sidewall . This meant stripping the bike down to turn upside down for finding and repairing the flat . This was very frustrating as we had more than one hole . No sooner had we got going again than the tyre was flat again . After the third stop I abandoned the attempt to patch and put my brand new spare tube in and this time it held .

Managed to finally get to camp by about 7:30 after more really tough hills and hot temps . The lake at camp was our immediate relief after a long and challenging day . We swam .

We ended up having a very late night by the time we had cooked our dinner in the last of the twilight and staggered or slithere’d into our tent , replete with food n wine .

On final days riding would take us through mostly quiet country roads to the home of friends John and Nancy Vose . John is an adventurer with a list of palmares too long to mention . Our friendship probably cemented with mutual recognition that we both inherited an “ adventure gene “

Fortunately the near bald old Surly tyre held up despite a huge inner tube bulging out the sidewall , and I was particularly happy to see a new replacement tyre waiting at John’s . Was not so easy to source from within France but I found a supplier from Germany .

Arrived to a very warm welcome with some of John’s family also in residence and interesting people and fascinating conversations . John’s son Robin is a university lecturer / author an authority in medieval history .

The old home and Gite in the front , are very old structures built sometime in the early 1800’s . John spent the covid lockdown in converting the old barn into a Gite , a fully self contained accommodation for house guests. Very comfortable providing you duck your head when upstairs as the ancient beams hit back occasionally.